The Season That Was, '98/'99.

Captains' Reports

First XI.
The first eleven showed a great deal of promise in the first half of the season. With the inclusion of five new players in the first game, the main focus of the early matches was to develop team spirit, with wins in the early rounds, this was easily achieved.
If any one facet of our game stood out throughout the season it was our bowling. With the continual improvement of medium pacers Dan Ryan and Tom Healy and the emergance of leg spinner Dan Bateman all three at various stages of the year made valuable contributions. Dan Bateman burst onto the scene in his first game against Melton and bowled with good agression in all game and along the way picked up a couple of five wicket hauls. Dan Ryan's five wickets against Sunshine was pleasing and the accuracy of Tom's bowling was vital. With Dave Wright and myself providing solid support we can look forward to next year having the variety in our attack to win more games.
Our batting unfortunately was our achillies heel, with regular scores of under 200 we put ourselves under unnecessary pressure. However, it was not all doom and gloom with some terrific individual performances throughout the year. Brendan Sabbatino finished the year in great form and we hope he can carry this through into next season. Warwick Peter-Budge showed plenty of promise and we can look forward to the continual improvement of Adam Carton, Jesse Uren and Casey McCutcheon.
Again, many thanks to John Mulligan, John Swanson, George Moore, Ron sahlberg and Blair Hillhouse for their assistance throughout the year.

Second XI.
The Seconds fielded 30 different players over the summer, for just eleven completed matches.late changes were not confined to the weather on Fridays.
Only one bowler took more than a dozen wickets (three in the previous season), one batsman totalled ove 150 runs (five in the previous season),and there were two outright defeats.
In over 30 seasons of competitive cricket I cannot recall worse statistics, yet somehow the Seconds racked up seven victories, compared to five in '97/'98, to finish a very surprisingsixth on the ladder. On the few days when we bowled tightly and batted steadily, we got the points, despite the skipper's poor form with the coin. On other days we were outclassed. The instability of team membership took a heavy toll with four or five changes from one match to the next, sometimes leaving many youngsters together, other matches had a team from Dad's Army!
Most pleasing was the indication that Adam Lowe, Casey McCutcheon, Owen de Kretser, Rick McKerrow and Matt McKerrow have the ability to press for selection in the First XI. They have seen Dan Ryan, Tom Healy, Adam Carton and Warwick Peter-Budge make the step up from the previous summer. This development of young players was the season highlight. Not far behind was brilliant outfielding, with some superb run outs and spectacular catching away from the wickets.Maybe this is where we won our games.
The season's turning point was at Williamstown. The Seagulls were 8 for 87 on a good deck, but reached 204. In seaming conditions and the ball moving as much as the Williamstown mouths, we gutsed our way to 3 for 101 and were "on top". An hour later we were all out for 128, and the season ended at round 7. If only that spinner hadn't brushed Adam Lowe's glove as he tried to sweep just before tea!
The season lowlight was the irregular availability of players and one "no appearance" after an assurance that a player was "right for next week". This is unnacceptable at any level. A change in attitude, and an improved willingness by all Club members to give more attention to the positives on the field will give confidence for the upcoming season.
Warm thanks are due to Tim McCaskill, John Mulligan, Graeme Pritchard, John Swanson and George Moore for their very direct assistance to the Seconds, and all the other committee members, without whom the Club would not function.

Third XI.
Our season began well with some solid wins that would take us to the Christmas break unbeaten. Particularly pleasing were our efforts against Melton and Coburg where the conditions were against us. We showed plenty of spirit to win well.
The side was a mostly youthful affair in deferance the "Laker Years", but some old stagers were already making their presence felt. My appreciation goes to Paul Myers for "raising eyebrows" and captaining the side in my absence; Geoff Allan for being himself and to Peter Turner, Kris Jakobsen and Steve McMillan for cameos.
We came out after Christmas as the competition "form side", but left a little of our own form back in the room. Losing two in a row brought us back to the pack and created a little urgency with the finals looming.
The team had many contributors during the season; the untiring bowlers Nigel Holdgate, and Matt and Rick McKerrow. Some winning all-round performances from Craig Trounson, Ben Finn and Adan Eldrett. Top order batting from Geoff Allan, Paul Myers, Anthony Senyard, Eric Pritchard and Kim Beales plus Mark Mihailovic taking grabs and keeping us up to date on the tote. My congratulations to Casey McCutcheon, Adam Lowe, Stewart Cook and Gordon Pritchard for your selection and performances in higher elevens. To these guys and everyone else who played, thanks for your effort and support.
Winning two out of our last three games we set off for Williamstown and the semi final, having beaten them in the second last round and knowing we were in with a good chance. We made a solid start and finished respectably at 213, which I always felt was competitive. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough and they passed us with 5 wickets down. As a Club, we can take plenty from the way we competed that weekend in a game we were right in until the final overs.
My appreciation to the Brunswick Committee for their untiring work. To Ron, Blair and George for being around to "shake their heads" and sort me out. To Alex Morris for giving me confidence and to John Swanson for simple answers and dedication.
Our season reads: played 12, won 8, lost 4. Yes, we missed some opportunities, but we went on to the park each week as mates and enjoyed the game. I'm proud of that.
Finally my thanks to Tim McCaskill for a different point of view, to John Mulligan for laughing, to Smithy and Tim Lumsden for perspective and to our honourable Secretary, F.F. Alsopp for the history lessons and those excellent refreshments.

Fourth XI.
Rain, rain, bye, outright defeat, walkover, a start to a season I have never experienced in my time at Brunswick, and one I hope never repeats itself again. From this horrid beginning, the team improved each week until we finally finished the home and away games in second place (improving from seventh place with three games to play), for which I both congratulate and thank the team for achieving this result. In the semi final, the players battled well in the field, to restrict Essendon to approximately 185 after they were 3 for 140. When we batted, we tried equally as hard, but lost vital wickets, just when we were getting on top of the bowling, finally falling 18 runs short of the target. Once again thank you all for your efforts in this game. The team consisted of a core of regular players, of which, several are capable of playing in higher elevens. Batters such as Scott Fraser, Ross McPhee, Joshua Dwyer and David Schulz need to convert their solid starts, into high scoring innings, whilst Dean Peter-Budge's improvement saw him play in the 3rd XI toward the end of the season. Dominic Alford, Brenton Allan and Vivian Dilkes-Frayne impressed with both the bat, and more particularly the ball, and steady improvement will mean a loss for the 4th XI and a gain for the 3rd XI. One of the major areas of improvement, from the first game to the semi final, was the fielding. In the first game, we dropped several catches, and misfielded too often. However in the semi, we took seven catches, and had two direct-hit run outs, with the only blemish being a difficult chance put down. One of the biggest improvers in this area was Michael Lee, who took many important catches throughout the year. In closing, I would like to thank the players, the committee, the selection committee, the training captains, the many players who filled in on short notice, and especially Doug Crawford, whose help, both on and off the field was invaluable, in my first year as captain.

R.M. Hatch Shield.
During the 1999 series we played some very good cricket and were a very competitive team in every match. The final results of 2 wins, 1 tie and 3 losses were a little below our expectations.
Generally our two weakest components of the game were fielding and running between the wickets, which are areas I hope all our players will work hard to improve by practicing and improving their skills.
Danny Gunn did a very good job as our captain both on and off the playing field. Dean Peter-Budge performed his duties as vice-captain ably and had a successful game as captain when Danny was out injured. All players contributed to our overall squad and showed they were capable of competing at this level. Sam Robley, Craig Murphy, Paul Alexopoulos, Danny Gunn, Gavin Sceney, Dean Peter-Budge, and Michael Diacogioris made consistent contributions with the bat. Adam McLaughlin worked hard behind the stumps and had one outstanding innings with the bat. Michael Cummaudo, John Carpenter, Parrish James and Sean Irvin demonstrated that they will be very good second year players in 2000.
I would like to thank Blair Hillhouse for his outstanding contribution to the preparation of this squad and his advice and support throughout the series. I would like to thank all the parents for the support and encouragement our squad received.


Outstanding Performances.

First XI.
Batter Score Bowler Figures
G. Baker 68 D. Ryan 5/30
T. McKaskill 67 D. Bateman 5/49
B. Sabatino 54 n.o. D. Bateman 5/60
D. Wright 53
T. McCaskill 52


Second XI.
Batter Score Bowler Figures
J. Uren 69 S. McMillan 7/30
M. McKerrow 6/11
M. McKerrow 5/35
N. Holdgate 5/55


Third XI.
Batter Score Bowler Figures
K. Beales 118 n.o. K. Jacobsen 7/29
A. Senyard 94 R. McKerow 6/11
P. Walsh 85 K. Jacobsen 6/13
P. Myers 78 C. Trounson 6/40
P. Walsh 77 M. McKerrow 6/57
P. Myers 69 N. Holdgate 5/62
P. Turner 69 A. Lowe 5/75
G. Allan 59 R. McKerrow 5/76
G.Allan 58
G. allan 57


Fourth XI.
Batter Score Bowler Figures
D. Schulze 100 B. Allan 5/33
R. McPhee 80
D. Schulze 74
J. Dwyer 64
D. Peter-Budge 57
D. Peter-Budge 56


Hatch Shield.
Batter Score Bowler Figures
T. Knox 48 J. Gilhooly 3/3
A. McLaughlin 41 S. Robley 3/7
D. Gunn 3/29



Trophy Winners.

First XI.
Batting: Brendan Sabatino
Bowling: Tim McCaskill
Club Championship: Tim McCaskill

Second XI.
 Batting: Alan McLean
Bowling: M. McKerrow
Club Championship: John Smith
 Third XI.
 Batting: Geoff Allan
Bowling: R. McKerrow
Club Championship: Pat Walsh

Fourth XI.
 Batting: David Schulze
Bowling: Peter Wagner
Club Championship: Peter Wagner

 Hatch Shield.
 Batting: Timothy Knox
Bowling: Sam Robley
Club Championship: Dean Peter-Budge